


A Pirates Life For Me

by cryschan



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-15
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-01 16:42:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1046158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryschan/pseuds/cryschan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leico Pirate AU. </p>
<p>-"So...uh...mind telling me what you're doing here?" He questioned her, the confidence in his voice wavering as he asked. He didn't want to seem weak in front of her, but he couldn't help it with the tone she'd been giving him.- </p>
<p>Warning! There will be cross-dressing, and yaoi in this chapter. If you don't like, don't read. Rated M for later chapters. Also other characters will appear later on as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My Luck Is Awful

**Author's Note:**

> [Author's Note]: This is my first Leico story, so I apologize if I'm out of character with them.
> 
> [Disclaimer]: All characters belong to Rick Riordan.

Leo swung back and forth, the wind effortlessly swinging him higher the more he drifted, his hands tied behind his back. He moved and wiggled, trying his best to struggle free, and get out of the bindings, but it was to no avail. This is definitely one of my days. He thought to himself, a blank look on his expressions as he let out a sigh, closing his eyes. His curly locks flowing easily in the wind, frustration coming over him as he thought about how this even happened. 

“Wow, my luck really is awful..” He mumbled to himself, his eyes still closed. They shot open when he heard a stick crack in the distance, he looked towards the direction it broke to see a young woman looking down at her feet. He could hear her easily, and stopped himself from laughing as she swore, from the looks of it she broke one of her shoes. She was probably a couple years younger than himself, fifteen? Maybe sixteen. She wore a black dress, which was laced down the front, the color of it a light grey. A ribbon went around her waist, which looked like it was done so twice, and tied behind her. Her hair was tied up in a pony tail with the same kind of colored ribbon tied around her waist, some of the strands of hair falling into her face along with her bangs, and by the looks of it, if she let it loose it would stop just at the end of her shoulder blades. 

Her make up was light, with a dark purple eyeshadow, black eyeliner, that covered the top and lower part of her eyes (which was messed up from her wiping at her eyes). Her eyes were a beautiful brown (well in Leo's opinion it was), her skin having a tan glow to it, but obviously pale. Her figure was smallish looking, but she looked like she could put up a fight if she really wanted to. Her bangs weren't too long, but long enough to drape over her eyes a bit, but she was still able to see perfectly fine obviously.

“Whoa.” Leo spoke quietly as he stared at her, she was beautiful, and he definitely wanted to try and get with her. She looked like a girl who was probably way out of his league, but that wouldn't stop him from trying, besides, that was his type. She had a frustrated look on her face as she took off the heels she wore, throwing them sideways, not watching where they went. As Leo stared at her, he hadn't gotten enough time (or even noticed them right away) to dodge the pair of heels that smacked his face. One hitting his forehead, another smacking the side of his cheek. “Ow!” He yelped.

Her gaze found it's way to him, a look of surprise on her expression, like she hadn't expected anyone to be there, but it didn't last long, and turned to a blank look as she saw he was tied up. She walked up barefoot to him, which it didn't look like it bothered her that much (Leo admired that), stopping in front of him. She was maybe only a couple of feet away from him, and his heart raced a bit as he watched her. They were able to look into each others' eyes, as Leo admired those caramel orbs, he could see sadness in them, and what looked like pain. He wondered subconsciously what could've caused this gorgeous woman to look so sad.

She had her hands on her hips, and stared at him like she was wondering if she should help him down or not. Thankfully for Leo, she decided to do so. She moved the dress up, Leo stared as his face became a bright red, it stopped right in the middle of her upper thigh. Her legs (he was only able to see a glimpse of the other one) were pretty pale compare to the rest of her skin tone, but it was still a light tan. She unhooked the strap on the dagger and pulled it out. She walked over to him, now only a few inches away, and her chest in front of his face as she cut the ropes. The sound bringing joy to the dark haired male, but the blush still dark on his face, as he held somewhat of a smile. She stopped, his hands now free, he rubbed them, examining them upside down before looking at her. His weapons had been tossed somewhere else, so he was pretty much helpless and depending on this stranger.

“If you do anything to hurt me, expect to get your throat cut. Got it?” Leo blinked, a bit of fear crossing him before he quickly nodded. It wasn't the first time he's been threatened with something like that, but he still didn't like the sound of it. She continued to cut the ropes, slicing them one by one. She reached up, holding onto the last ropes she had to cut before he was free. As soon as the rope was cut, Leo couldn't stop his fall. He fell onto her, laying in a horizontal position across the woman under him. She struggled a bit to push him, off but he gradually moved to where he was on his hands and knees, only hovering above her.

“Move.” She hissed, glaring up at him, but he did as she requested, quickly moving off of her and getting to his feet. He dusted off his pants before walking over and picking up his dis-guarded weapons. Leo picked up his sheathed sword, putting it back to where it belonged. He walked over, passing the strange woman (who was putting her dagger back) and picked up his own bronze dagger. He slipped it into his boot, staring at her as she fixed her dress, she was still looking down as she dusted it off, before she looked over towards him. A glare on her face as she noticed him looking at her. 

“What?” Her tone was far from friendly, and it almost sent a chill down Leo's spin. The blush had slowly made it's way back to his face as he stood there.

“Well...I was just thinking about how beau-”

“Save it, seadog, I don't want to hear any of your flirtatious comments.” Leo blinked at the harsh tone, crossing her arms over her chest (which Leo couldn't help but stare at), as she tapped her foot.

“So I guess that means you've been flirted with a lot before?” He questioned a smile coming to his face as his eyes moved to meet her's, so he wouldn't get smacked or anything like that if she caught him staring at her chest. It wasn't like he was disrespectful to women either, he didn't normally stare at a girl's chest, but he found it a bit odd she was flat chested. Of course, it didn't bother him that she was, he had just never met a woman her age and not have them without some sort of package. She rolled her eyes, giving off her own sign that she had caught him before he looked up.

“Yeah, and keep your eyes on my face, pervert.” Leo blushed, her hand on her hip, his gaze quickly moving somewhere else so he wouldn't have to look at her. 

“So...uh...mind telling me what you're doing here?” He questioned her, the confidence that had been in his tone before vanishing as he asked. He didn't want to seem weak in front of her, but he couldn't help it with the tone she'd been giving him every time she talked to him.

“The ship I was on got raided by female pirates...they...they dumped me here after they got what they needed.” Leo had a feeling she was sort of lying, which caused Leo to look at her and raise an eyebrow. He hadn't noticed her lips before, but they had black lipstick on them, it suit her honestly, and they were twitching a bit from her answer.

“I'm Leo Valdez, Captain of the Argo II.” He puffed out his chest and a grin on his face, which caused her to roll her eyes at him, again. She walked up to him, she stopped in front of him, smacking his chest, causing him to grab at the spot and cough a bit, before beginning to walk towards the wooded area.

“Come on, Commander stupid, we have to get off this island. I hope whoever tied you up didn't steal your ship. Even if I'd expect it.”


	2. Bait

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Disclaimer]: I don't own the characters, they belong to Rick Riordan.

How in the world did he end up stuck with this idiot? I'm Leo Valdez, Captain of the Argo II. Nico wasn't sure exactly why those words kept running through his head. Was it because he'd never actually met a pirate that would give their name out that easily? At least, not with out say something along the lines of 'Oh! You don't know me?! I'm blah blah', but Leo hadn't seemed too surprised that Nico hadn't heard of it, and it made the Italian suspicious. Nico looked back every once in a while, just to see if Leo was keeping up, or whatever the pirate was doing. Nico did not want to get stabbed in the back...or something worse happening to him. 

When he looked back he could see Leo looking down at his feet, Nico continued to stare at Leo. For a pirate, Leo looked pretty cleaned up. His hair was a mess, and bits of his skin and clothes were covered in grease and oil, but other than that, he was decent. Nico stared for a few more minutes, before running into a tree. Nico stumbled back, coming close to falling if it hadn't been for Leo, who now held him by his armpits. The Italian blinked, trying to process what just happened before it hit him. He'd just run into a tree while staring at Leo...and now said Latino was holding him. Nico was more than sure if the male made any kind of flirtatious comment to him, then there was a very good chance Leo will end up with a black eye.

“You okay?” Nico pushed himself up, Leo easily letting him go after he stood completely. Nico was shocked at how much concern Leo had in his voice, and it was in a way...pleasant. Nico looked up at Leo, there wasn't a smile on his face, and his expression matched the tone of his voice. 

“Yeah...” Nico mumbled as he dusted the dress off. God, he hated this dress, if he could, he would've gotten rid of it a long time ago, but he had been forced to be on the island with this on. The female pirates had not been very kind to him when they discovered he wasn't a she, but he was only happy they hadn't slaughtered him. Nico fixed his dress and began to walk again, Leo catching up to walk along side Nico.

“So, uh...I never got your name...” 

________________________________________________

Nico and Leo were hiding behind a large bush that rested behind two large trees, Nico was relieved that Leo's ship hadn't been stolen, but it was being guarded by the people who had tied the tan male up. He glanced at Leo who had a serious expression on his face, which Nico couldn't help but admire a bit. The male didn't think Leo could be very serious, but the sight before him proved him wrong. Nico's gaze looked back at the pirates, there were only two of them, but they were still a lot more muscular than Leo and himself, and Nico was slightly worried they wouldn't stand a chance.

“Who are they?” Nico wondered out loud, not really expecting an answer, but ended up getting one anyway.

“Those two are apart of a small colony of pirates that take refuge on an island about an hour away from here. Their colony are called the Titans, and they're not a group you want to mess with. They don't hesitate to kill and it's rare for them to even agree with offers.” Nico looked over at Leo after he was done explaining, an eyebrow raised at him. 

“You've encountered this group before I'm assuming.” Nico asked, a frown on his face as he waited for Leo to answer him. The captain smirked at Nico and nodded.

“Yeah, though I've only really come across their path when I was with the crew I was on. This was the first time I actually encountered them without my frien- I mean crew mates. ” He explained, Nico looking at him curiously when Leo almost said friends. He nodded letting him know that he understood the situation.

“You have a plan to get past them? From how you make them sound we wouldn't want to get in a fight with them.” Nico questioned looking out at the pirates that stood there, laughing and talking. Nico couldn't quite hear what they were saying, but he really didn't want to know. He just wanted to get on the ship and off of this island, and hope he would be taken home without any trouble. 

“Yeah, but there's a little problem with the plan.” Leo answered, causing Nico to look at him, worry filling him when he heard the comment.

“What do you mean there's a problem? I'm sure it'll do,” Nico insisted, “besides, we can work out the kinks.” Nico finished, his hand resting on top of the bush that hid them.

Leo looked like he was contemplating on telling him the plan, Nico subconsciously wondering if it had anything that would involve either being hurt, or possibly left behind if not done correctly. The thought didn't reassure Nico at all, and he just silently prayed that wasn't the case.

“Uh...how do you feel about being bait?”

______________________________________________________

The plan was well thought out, and actually sort of showed Nico the smart side of Leo by how it sounded. Nico patiently stood there, waiting for Leo to give the signal for him to go out there, glancing at him nervously as he waited. When he got the signal from Leo, Nico had dusted his dress off, and wandered out to the sand, his feet were hurting from walking on rocks and on twigs, but he didn't let it get to him. He stood there, his part in this registering through his head. 

“Help!” He yelled, catching the pirates' attention, one of the men huffed at the sight of Nico before looking at the one next to him obviously both beginning to ignore him. Nico huffed as he cleared his throat and yelled again. “Help me please! I'm in terrible trouble!” He wasn't even sure why he was asking pirates for help, rather this was just a cover or not, he knew this part was sure to fail. What pirate would help someone out? Well...as long as they paid them they would, but it didn't seem right to Nico that they would just help him out of the kindness of their heart. He was right too, they looked at each other, and then began to laugh loudly. Nico's eye twitched a bit in annoyances, but he kept up the appearance of a helpless woman needing assistance. 

“Woman, are you mad? You expect us to help you? What's in it for us?” One of the pirates mused.

“Yeah, if you want our help it'll cost you lots.” Agreed the other. Nico felt his heart beginning to race at their request for money. Nico bit the inside of his cheek, making a fist. He could seen Leo slowly making his was past them, and for this to be successful and for them to get off this island, Leo needed more time. 

“I'll pay you! Whatever you want, just please help me.” Nico begged, falling to his knees, his hands entangled together looking like he was praying. Trying his best to put on a good play. Leo was halfway to the boat, and Nico prayed silently that they would come up to him and 'help' him out. They did come closer, and as they made their was towards him, Nico letting his hands fall to his lap to rest there, gradually and carefully pushing the dagger on his thigh out of it's holder. They made their way forward, Nico glancing at Leo who was climbing up the ship's side now. 

One of the pirates knelt down beside Nico, grabbing his face to study it. The guy was a mess. He smelled and looked ever worse up close, causing Nico to cringe a bit at it. The pirate let go of Nico's face and stood where he was, studying Nico, who now had dirt now on his chin. 

“Well, brother, what do you think we should do? Should we help the maiden?” The pirate looked over towards the one still standing, Nico looking between them in a pleading manner, only hoping his acting was good enough. He looked at Leo again, who was now on the ship working at the controls, Leo looked up, their eyes meeting. He nodded, giving the sign it was time for Nico to wrap this up and meet him on the ship. 

“She'd said she'd give us whatever we wanted. You think she'll open her legs for us?” Nico's heart stopped at that answer, he looked up at the pirates, a frown on his face, and instead of a look of plead for help, it held anger. There was no way in hell they were going to anything like that to him. Nico quickly moved his down, reaching under the dress as best he could while they were distracted for a minute, talking about what they would do with him. He grabbed the dagger, waiting for them to make a move before pulling it out. They advanced, which Nico didn't hesitate to pull out the dagger and hold it up as a defense.

They stopped for a minute, looking at each other again, before they started to laughed at him, both pulling out swords, and held it up in front of Nico. “What are you going to do with that, maiden? I puny knife is nothing compared to a real man's sword.” Nico rolled his eyes at that comment, and just as the one who was kneeling moved forward, Nico stabbed his arm. He howled in pain, Nico taking the chance to stand up, and began to ran past them, but the pirate standing grabbed Nico's hair, pulling on it. Luckily for the male, his hair was a wig, which came off as soon as the pirate started pulling. 

Nico was free from the grip, his hair was a mess, but he didn't care that it was. He needed to get to the ship. He ran as fast as he could with the dagger in his hand, the pirates cursing as they realized what was going on, and began to chase him. Nico was there first, and quickly grabbed the ladder, climbing up as fast as he possibly could. He was about a quarter of the way up when the pirates were about three feet from the boat. Nico climbed faster, reaching the top of the boat quickly, he climbed inside and began to roll up the latter. Leo beginning to start up the ship as soon as he saw Nico on the boat. The ship backed out, causing Nico to almost fall over, but he caught himself and now had the rope latter up onto the boat. 

The brother pirates cursed as Leo sailed off, turning the boat in a different direction, and as soon as it was completely turned around, he put it in overdrive and took off. Nico was out of breath, gripping the sides of the ship, falling to the side and laying there exhausted. 

“Fuck.” Nico breathed out as he laid there, moving to lay on his back, his eyes closed. He heard a laugh, his eyes opening partially and looking over towards the captain of this ship. 

“Well...at least we got away.” Leo chuckled as he looked back at Nico who stared up at him, and eyebrow raised. He began to chuckle a bit as he looked back up at the sky. Yeah, at least we got away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Author's Note]: I will be going back and forth between Nico and Leo's POV, so if it gets confusing, I apologize.


	3. Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Disclaimer]: I don't own any of the characters, they belong to Rick Riordan.

Leo tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he looked out to the ocean. It was a beautiful day, almost didn't feel like they just escaped from an island that had two ugly goons that were apart of Kronos's group. Leo always had a habit of running into this underlings instead of the captain himself. The Latino wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing either. He remembered being told stories about Kronos by a few of his crew mates who he'd planned to meet up with soon. The stuff he heard was not good. He turned to look over at Nico, who's eyes were closed and still laying on the floor. He stopped tapping his fingers and examined her more, feeling like there was something off. Her hair had not been that short. 

Leo moved off the wheel and walked down the steps that led down to the deck, walking towards her. He stood over her, before he moved to kneel down next to her. She wasn't asleep because the second he'd gotten down to his knees her eyes were open and staring at him.

“What do you want?” Her tone was harsh, which honestly didn't surprise Leo that much, the attitude in her voice hadn't changed much since she cut him down. 

“What happened to your hair?” He questioned as he moved to sit down, his legs crossed in front of him as he stared at Nico. She quickly sat up, her eyes a bit wide like she just realized what had happened. She touched her hair, one of her hands moving down till it got to the ends of her hair. He heard her curse again, as she let the hand fall to her lap and her head falling forward. Leo waited for an answer, which when she finally looked at him, that death glare was on her face again. It strangely sent shivers down Leo's spin, but he stood where he was, still waiting for an answer.

“I was wearing a wig.” Leo raised an eyebrow at that comment, a confused expression on his face. Nico let out a sigh, almost like she could read his thoughts. “I...I wear it to make me look more feminine.” He heard her admit to him as the glare turned to the ground. Like it had been it's fault that the wig was now off her head.

“But...That doesn't make sense...you look feminine enough now. Why do does your hair need to be long for you to look more feminine?” Leo questioned, not realizing that what he said might have been insulting.

“I mean, you look good either way, but I don't understand why you would need a wig in the first place.” He stated, Nico was now giving him a strange look, almost like she wasn't expecting Leo to say that, and it made Leo shift a bit where he sat. Nico let out a sigh as she stood up and fixed the dress, patting it down a bit. She turned towards Leo as he sat there looking up at her. 

This took occurred for about a few minutes more before Nico finally began to speak. “Well...I'm..not suppose to look feminine.” He heard her murmur, like she was trying to keep the statement from him. Before he could question it, she stalked off, leaving Leo there completely confused. He looked over towards her, standing up quickly, and nearly falling over his feet as he ran after her.

“Wait, why are you not suppose to be feminine? I mean it's not like you're a guy dressed up like that, right?” Leo had been joking when he asked the female that, but the look on her face said the joke was right on the spot. She looked away from him, cursing again, before bringing a hand up and nervously rubbing her arm. Leo's mouth fell open at that. “Wait a minute..you're..a...” He trailed off.

“Yes, I'm a guy, are you happy you know the truth now?” Nico snapped, an angered expression on his face. Leo smacked his forehead, cringing at the pain, beginning to rub where he hit. 

“God, I'm an idiot.” He mumbled, earning a huff from Nico.

“You now just realized that?” Leo sent his own glare at Nico, who actually had a grin on his face, almost like he had hoped Leo would get angry. It didn't stay long though. “You're..not going to kick me off right? Or worse, take me back to that island..” Nico questioned, he seemed a bit scared about Leo's answer, which surprised Leo. Nico hadn't actually shown fear to him since they met, always anger...or sarcasm, but seeing the other actually fearful. Well it sort of made Leo want to protect him. 

“Of course not, I mean, it's a bit of a shocker that you have a-” Nico covered his mouth at that, a blank expression on his face. Leo got the sign, gently removing the other's hand. “All I'm saying is, you don't have to worry about me kicking you off because of that. I know plenty of people who would, but I'm not one of them.” Leo finished, a smile on his as he still held Nico's hand, and not really caring that he was doing so. Leo probably would've continued to hold the hand if the owner hadn't snatched it away.

“Thanks.” Nico stated looking somewhere else, a small smile coming to his face as he looked back at Leo.

“No problem, so, now that that's cleared up. Would you like other clothes to change into? Or are you comfortable with that on? Cause if you are, then that's totally cool, it just might make it a bit awkw-”

“Just get me a new outfit, Commander Stupid. I don't want to be in a dress anymore.” Nico demanded earning a smirk from Leo. Leo couldn't help but think how cute it was that he was demanding the captain of a pirate ship for something as simple as clothes. He chuckled and nodded.

“Yes, your highness.” He joked as he walked off and going down under the deck, as soon as he was under the smile faded from his face. He remembered growing up on ships like this with his mom, it felt nice to be on one again, but he just couldn't handle those memories. It brought him too much pain to even think about it. He walked over grabbing some of the clothes that were on a stack of hay, he picked them up and walked over towards the stairway. The sun hurting his eyes as he walked up to the top of the deck, but it was only for a moment as they began to adjust, when he looked over and saw Nico still standing there, a smile coming to his face again.

“I wonder what you look like in mens' clothing, probably not as cute.” He spoke loudly enough for Nico to turn and look at him. He caught the other rolling his eyes as he turned and made his way over to Leo, taking the clothes from him. 

“You have a place for me to change in private, right?” Nico questioned as he looked at the clothes in his arms. A smirk came to Leo's face at the question, Nico not noticing it till he didn't get an answer right away. When he looked up, and saw the look, a look of worry and maybe a small glimpse of fear passed over his expressions.

“Aw, and here I was hoping you'd change in front of me.” Leo paused, Nico giving Leo a blank look, with a dark red blush on his face, causing the Latino to laugh. “Under the deck maybe, but I have rooms on here too that are empty right now. Make your choice, and if you want, whatever room you choose can be the one you stay in.” Leo finished, walking up to the edge of the ship and resting against it. Nico walked off, going to look through the rooms to change. Leo smiled as he looked out onto the sea, part of him had missed being out in the sea, and even though it brought back a lot of agonizing memories, it was still nice to be there.

________________________________________________________________

It had been about twenty minutes, from what Leo could tell, when Nico came back. Leo was tapping his hands on the side of the ship, not hearing the other walk up till he heard Nico clear his throat. He turned his head to see a nicely dressed Nico, who wore a white dress shirt and black pants. They were a little big on him, since it was one of Leo's outfits, but other wise, he looked good. Leo turned to face him more, Nico pulling down the shirt a bit. 

“It's comfortable, I feel like I'm going to fall from the pants being too big, but it'll work.” Nico informed Leo as he walked forward, still barefoot. Leo frowned at that, he didn't have any spear shoes, so the best he could think of is trying to find a town nearby to maybe buy some shoes for him. Nico noticed him staring at his feet, looking down a look of realization coming over his expressions, but he quickly shrugged. “It's alright, I don't really need shoes right now, they're not a top priority.”

Leo shrugged, well if he doesn't mind being shoeless for a while, then Leo wouldn't push the issue. He walked over towards the controls again, leaning against it as his looked out. I really hope we don't run into trouble out here.. He thought to himself as he looked back at Nico who was looking down onto the ocean. A smile coming to Leo face before he looked forward again, placing his chin on top of his hands.

__________________________________________________________

They'd been out at sea for about two days, Leo's stomach was rumbling, he placed his hand on his stomach and groaned. He had a look of discomfort on his expressions as he leaned over the wheel. He hadn't eaten since two days before he had been hanging upside down on the island, and he doubt he had any good food on the ship. Leo's stomach complained, hunger pains making the captain cringe, causing the Latino to smack his head on the steering wheel and let out a loud groan. Leo didn't hear the footsteps that came up on the deck, so when he turned around, planning on looking for food, his heart nearly stopped as he saw Nico standing there. A hand moving to his heart, as he placed a hand on the wheel to hold onto, holding both tightly as he took deep breaths.

“Fuck, man, don't do that.” He let out a sigh as he caught his breath, Nico's face was emotionless as he stared at the pirate.

“You're the captain of a pirate ship, and you're scared of a scrawny fifteen year old? Wow, you're real scary.” Nico's commented, Leo rolling his eyes at the sarcasm. 

“Okay, but you're a quiet little f--- wait a minute, you're fifteen?” Leo questioned, examining the other, which caused Nico's face to tint with a light pink, giving the other a look indicating the other was slow. “You don't look fifteen, maybe a bit too young for me, but I could alwa-.” Nico walked up to the male, smacking his forehead, almost like he had known what Leo had been planning to say. He huffed and stormed off, murmuring a word that sounded a lot like 'pervert'. Leo laughed, rubbing his forehead where he got hit. He really shouldn't have said that, Leo wasn't that much older than him if Nico wasn't lying to him, which he was sure he wasn't, but the other didn't need to know that yet. 

Leo looked around before he saw a small glimpse of a far away town, a smile coming to his face as he saw the land. He whistled to Nico, who (even though he was angry with Leo and stormed off) hadn't been that far away. Nico walked up, the glare on his face.

“What?” He questioned, Leo pointing out to the land that was about a mile away. Nico expressions changing to that of curiosity as he stared at the island, he looked back at Leo who had a smile on his face.

“Hope you don't mind me making a stop for some supplies.”


	4. Don't Cry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Author's Note]: Heads up, half way through it's going to switch from Leo to Nico's POV. 
> 
> [Disclaimer]: I do not own the characters or "The Hunters" they belong to Rick Riordan.

Leo was under the deck, messing with the engine of the ship, a wrench in his mouth as he examined the kinks that need to be fixed. He removed the tool from his mouth, setting it down next to him, then brought up a dirty hand to scratch his cheek, in the process getting oil on his face. He wiped his nose with his arm, and leaned forward looking through the machinery. His mind always going into what he was working on, the stuff surrounding him vanishing, like only him and the engine existed. He was brought out of this when he heard the door of the engine room opening. He stopped and turned around to find Nico at the top, a hand on the door frame staring down. 

“Hey, is the engine fixed yet?” Nico questioned as he walked down the stairs. The engine had blown the second they'd rowed up to the dock, so now they were abandoned there till Leo fixed it. Leo was just happy they were nearby a town when it happened. Leo wiped the oil on his pants, turning around completely to give the other male more of his attention. Nico reached the last step, looking around the area, Leo had almost forgotten that Nico hadn't actually been down here before, he'd only seen glimpses of the room. Leo smiled standing up, making sure his hands were at least somewhat cleaned as he stood there. 

“No, it might take another day or two, I hope you're not impatient about getting home.” Nico shook his head, the male had actually lightened up to Leo in the past couple of days that they've been there, and now wouldn't always scowl at Leo every time he talked. 

“It's fine, I'm not in too much of a rush.” Nico informed Leo who smiled, nodding. “I'm going to go into town to get some supplies, you want me to pick you up anything?” Nico questioned Leo, who's first instinct was to look back at the engine, thinking about if he needed any parts. He shook his head when he looked back at Nico.

“No, I don't think I do, but if I do I'll probably get them myself later.” The Latino informed, smiling at the male who nodded and began to walk up the stairs. He closed the door behind him, leaving Leo to his work, the male sighing as he walked over to the engine and continuing where he left off.

________________________________________________________________

Leo let out a sigh, his head falling back, laying against the back of the chair as he stared up at the ceiling. Nico had been late getting back, it was almost dark when the male finally boarded the ship again, and he had been faced with a very worried Latino. Leo had somewhat nagged at Nico too when he got back, Leo coming close to hugging him, but stopped himself. Nico had huffed at him and stormed off, going to the far corner room he'd called his own the day he got on the boat. So they've been away from each other for a good two hours. 

His hands hung at his sides, he was about a quarter of the way done with the engine, and he was exhausted. He hadn't slept for the two days they'd been there, and Leo had kept that information from Nico. He didn't want to worry the other, or make him think that Leo couldn't do the job correctly if he didn't sleep, really Leo saw it as a gift that he could keep working on only an hour of sleep, but he knew it wasn't the best thing to do to his body. Leo sat up, rubbing his eye with the back of his wrist instead of his hand, not wanting to get oil or grease in his eye. He let his hand fall to his lap as he stared around the area groggily. 

He stood up and moved around the chair to walk towards the door. He walked up the steps, reaching for the handle when the door opened on its own. Now face to face with the other male. They both stood there a bit in shock, Leo moving his hand back down to his side, and avoided the other's gaze, which right now, he had a good idea that Nico was scowling at him. 

They were like that for a couple of minutes, Leo not being able to take the silence between them anymore, he cleared his throat, already having the male attention, but wanting to break the silence some way. “I-”

“Look, I know I was out longer than normal, but what I do is my business, and I have no right to explain to you why I was late. We don't even really know each other, so what's the point in worrying about someone who you don't even know?” Leo looked at Nico, returning his own glare at the (still) shoeless male. 

“I was worried because...” Leo trailed off, his argument falling short. He wasn't exactly sure why he was so worried, he couldn't just tell Nico that it was because he felt a need to protect him, he was more than positive that would lead Nico and him to just argue more. He didn't have any other reason besides that though, and even if Leo was a bit of dense idiot sometimes, he wasn't one who was going to make the someone feel like a little kid. Especially someone who wasn't much younger than the captain himself. 

He sighed. “I was worried because I thought I was going to be alone again.” Leo wasn't sure if what he said was a lie or not, he meant it to be one, but the way it felt, and how it left he spoke it...well it didn't seem like it had been one. He was looking at his feet, and wasn't sure what the other's expression was, and he didn't really care at that moment. He was exhausted, and was sort of grouchy, all he wanted was sleep and to stop arguing with Nico.

“You're an idiot.” Leo looked up glaring at the other for the insult, but when he did he got something far from an angry look on the other's face. It sort of looked like a look of...pity? No, it looked like that, but it wasn't pity, it was more of an understanding kind of look. Leo was staring at Nico, who let out a sigh, the scowl reappearing on his face. His lips moved, he was speaking, but Leo wasn't sure what he was saying. He was sort of in a daze...until he got smacked. 

“Ow! What the hell was that for?” 

“You looked like you were falling asleep while I was talking.” Nico spoke in a matter of fact tone, which made Leo roll his eyes and shake his head a bit at. He couldn't exactly yell at him though, Leo probably had been falling asleep on him.

“Okay, so you smacked me?” Leo questioned, the look on his face not matching his tone. He sounded like it was funny while he glared, Nico shrugged at him, almost like it was something he had to have done.

“So, I smacked you. You look tired, you should get some sleep.” Nico suggested, moving on from the subject. Leo nodded, agreeing with that comment, already feeling his eyes beginning to close on their own again. He smiled at Nico, patting his head causing a small complaint from the other, before he walked past Nico, going towards the room Leo had chosen as the place he'd sleep in.

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It was the next day, and Leo had not woken up in the best way. He'd been tossing and turning, snoring happily away, before he rolled over, and falling off of his bed. He landing on the wood hard, snorting awake, as he sat up quickly and looked around the room. He rubbed his sore head, standing up as he staggered towards the door. He'd fallen asleep with the same clothes on, so he didn't have to worry about changing. He rubbed his eye, and yawned, walking down the hall of the Argo II, making his way to the engine room. He stopped when he made it to the main deck, staring at the sight before him. 

Okay, Leo pushed the question to the back of his mind when he first found out Nico was a male. If the guy wanted to wear a dress, who was he to question what he liked or what he was forced to wear? When he saw that familiar black dress again though, the question was at the front of his mind again, and he wasn't going to stop himself this time.

“Why do you wear that?” He saw Nico jump and quickly spin around when he heard the question from Leo. A dark blush was on his face, but the glare on his face gave Leo a sigh he didn't expect him to see Nico in that.

“It's none of your business.” He stated, but really, it was Leo's business, if the other was going to wear that around Leo, he deserved a reason right?

“Just answer the question.”

“It's none of your business.”

“We're going to be keeping this up all day, or at least every time you wear that outfit, so you might as well tell me, I mean it's not like I'll judge you either way for it. So why not just get it out of your system?” Leo was pushing the issue, which wasn't something he typically did when it came to stuff like this, but he was still tired, he really wanted to know, and he really didn't want to ask again.

“It's none of your...oh fuck it, I wore it when I got captured because it was a cruel prank done by the people I was on the ship with.” 

“Doesn't explain why you're wearing it now.” Leo noted, feeling like any moment, Nico was either going to hit him, throw something at him, yell at him, or all three. Instead, Nico huffed in annoyance.

“I'm wearing it now because...uh...well...” Nico trailed off a blush coming to his face (which was amazing he had even stopped blushing before), Leo raised an eyebrow, a smirk coming to his face.

“Don't tell me, you like wearing dresses?”

“No! I'm wearing it cause it was my sister's...and well..it's the only thing I have left of her. When we were younger we use to play dress up, and well...it sort of brings back happy memories.” Leo watched as Nico's face lost the rosy red and went pale the more he explained the situation. Keeping quiet as he listened and waited for him to finish. 

“It helps cover up the sad ones, right?” Leo questioned, Nico looking at him with a glare, before it softened a bit, his gaze finding it's way to the floor. He nodded, confirming Leo's guess. “I...uh...use to spend most of my time in the engine room when my crew was around. I only went up to converse when I was bored, but...my mom...she use to be a mechanic for this one ship for a long time ago, and I would spend most of my time with her as a little kid. We'd explore, pretend we were pirates, and it was...great.” Leo trailed off, he never liked explaining something like that, and Nico noticed the expression on his face, a frown on his own as he stared at the other and listened to him talk.

“So we've both done..or uh...are doing some pretty stupid things to almost put ourselves in those memories again..huh?” Nico question, a sad, painful smile on his face as he looked at Leo. Leo gave the same smile, nodding as he chuckled sadly. It went quiet as they stood there awkwardly, both not looking at each other, their gazes on the floor of the deck. Leo cleared his throat, Nico looking up at him, a simple frown on his face.

“I'm...uh...gonna go work on the engine. You want to come with?” Leo questioned, Nico nodding at the question.

“Let me change first, okay?” Leo nodded as he began to walk over to the engine room's door. 

“See ya soon.” Leo called, opening the door, walking down the steps before closing it behind him. Nico running off to change.

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Nico was far from sure why he had decided to tell Leo about his dress up days with his sister, really he'd lied about the cruel prank. He had already been dressed up like that when he went on the ship, the guys on the ship hadn't even known he was male, and it stayed like that till they were slaughtered in front of him by the female pirates. If he hadn't told them he was related to Bianca...well...he would've probably died that day. 

He entered his room, closing the door before undoing the dress's straps, letting it fall off. He'd kept the pants he was borrowing from Leo on, the shirt really had been the only thing he'd taken off when he put the dress on. He put the shirt on, buttoning it up as he thought about the memory of what happened that day, and he did not like that memory. Even if he wasn't fond of the crew itself, he knew what happened to them was just cruel, and he made it official to be scared of female pirates just as much as male ones. 

Nico left the room, making his way back to the engine room, barefooted. He didn't really want to wear shoes, he liked the thought of sneaking up on people, and that's mostly why he kept to being shoeless. He opened the door to the engine room, making his way down the steps, going loud enough to let Leo know that he was on his way down. Leo nagged at him about that once, saying that he should at least walk loudly enough for him to know he was there if he couldn't straight out see him. Nico reached the bottom, looking around, Leo wasn't in the chair, or even by the engine like he normally was. 

“Hey! Valdez, you dow-” Nico jumped as he heard a noise, causing him to look over in the direction it came. It was over by the right side, and Nico didn't see anything at first, so he began to slowly walk over there. His foot stepped down on something wet, he raised an eyebrow as he looked down at his feet. “What the....” He slowly moved is way forward, not making it far before he slammed into something, which caused his feet to slip on the liquid. Whatever it was he slammed into caused both of them to fall to the floor. Nico had felt himself shift, and figuring he would've landed on his butt, he landed on his stomach. He smacked against something soft, his eyes tightly shut, but he slowly opened them, blinking as he looked down. His face became a dark red as her stared into those chocolate colored orbs, the face on the male under him just as red. 

Both Leo and Nico quietly stared at each other for a good five minutes, an awkward and uncomfortable silence filled the room before Leo cleared his voice to speak. 

“Well...as uh...much as I like you in this position, I have work to do, so if you could...” He trailed off, Nico could feel his face turning a darker shade, he hesitated, and he wasn't exactly sure why, but the second he processed what the other had asked, he quickly scrambled off, backing up as far as he could. The dark blush was still on his face as he looked everywhere but Leo. Nico glanced at him, he had that weird flirtatious smile on his face as he looked back. Nico had a weird mix combination of wanting to smack and kiss him at the same time, he mentally slapped himself for the thought of wanting to kiss him, and quickly stood up. Putting a glare on his face as he stared at him, the smile never leaving Leo's.

“Come on, Repair boy, you have worked to do.” He mumbled, slowly making his way across the liquid and past Leo. “What is this stuff anyway?” Nico quickly stopping as he made his way across, balancing himself on one foot, and rubbed the bottom of his foot. Looking at the stuff on his feet, it was a clear liquid, so part of him wondered if it was water.

“Water that leaked in through the ship, I patched the hole so no more should come in, but that's the cause of it.” Nico smiled as his assumption was right, but quickly frowned as he made his way towards the engine, making his way towards the seat. He sat down right as Leo came by, giving him a look of disapproval. Nico smirked at that, and just sat back relaxing in the chair. Leo rolled his eyes, smiling at Nico before he knelt down and began to work on the engine. 

Nico watched him, finding it interesting how he worked, he seemed concentrated on what he was doing, and it was fascinating to watch. It was odd, he'd never actually watch Leo work before now, and he wished to himself that he had actually done so before. 

“What happened to your sister?” Nico flinched as he heard the question, looking at Leo with a mixed expression, which matched exactly how he felt. Leo wasn't looking at him, so he couldn't see his expression (obviously), but when Nico didn't answer right away, Leo turned to look at him. An apologetic look already on his face. 

Nico looked down. “She...she was with a band of pirates...she...she became one herself, joined them when I was only ten.” He choked back a sob, covering his mouth for a moment, to try and regain his composure so he could continue. The thought always bringing him discomfort right away when he talked about it. Leo looked at him with concern, reaching over he placed a hand on Nico's knee, in a reassuring way.

“Look, you don't have to continue if you don't want to. I'm sorry for asking.” Leo commented, Nico shook his head as he removed his hand, taking a deep breath before he began to talk again.

“She left...joining this female pirate group called The Hunters. On one of their raiding trips...she...she died.” Nico felt the tears roll down his face, he brought up a hand and wiped his face, rubbing both of his eyes, Leo's hand stood where it was, gently squeezing the knee, trying to let him know that he was there for him. It was oddly comforting. “As a tribute to the dead, they send the family the information that they've passed on, and how they have. I don't know how, but my parents do, and well...that's what happened...” He trailed off, sniffing a bit, he hadn't cried since he found out the news, and he could feel the effect on his eyes. They were starting to burn. He felt like just letting himself cry, get it out of his system, but he remembered Leo was there and he didn't want to do so in front of Leo.

He looked at Leo, wiping his eyes again, he didn't smile, he didn't see a point to it. Nico waited silently for a few minutes for a 'I'm sorry' or 'That must have been awful' … 'I understand'. That one was always the worse, when people commented on how they understood, no one really did. He wasn't expecting Leo to hug him, it surprised him when he felt the arms wrap around his waist, and Leo's chin on his shoulder. Nico blinked a bit, tears falling down his face, he continued to fight, not wanting to cry, he didn't want to break down in front of Leo. Nico refused to.

He failed not too long after.

He started to sob quietly, his hands resting against Leo's shoulder, his forehead resting against the Latino's shoulder. Nico was sobbing into a stranger's shoulder. Fuck, he even told him what happened to his sister. Half of him argued the other would just use him, or something along those lines, the other half (which Nico considered the more stupid part of his brain) disagreed, telling him that it was good he finally got it out. Either way, Nico wasn't going to stop crying any time soon.

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Nico wasn't sure how long he'd been crying into Leo's shoulder, or when Leo had brought Nico closer to him, but when Nico finally calmed down. He pulled away from Leo, who smiled at him gently. Nico's eyes were burning now, he wasn't sure if it was from the crying itself, or the tears, but Nico kept rubbing them, just making his eyes more irritated. He sniffed a bit, looking at Leo's chest, his arms were still around Nico, and now that he actually noticed he was sitting on Leo's lap. So Nico did the thing that came naturally. He glared at Leo. Well...more like his chest, but still.

“Why am I sitting on your lap?” He questioned, his voice hoarse, he looked at Leo, the glare still on his face. Leo shrugged as he pulled him closer, Nico's instincts screaming to push away, but at that moment, he was too exhausted to listen to it.

“You were falling off the chair, so I decided to just move you to my lap.” Leo sounded like it was an everyday thing. Nico would've moved off of him, but his mind told him to lean towards him more, and too exhausted to argue, he did. He laid his head on Leo's shoulder, finding comfort in the other's embrace. He could sense the smile that came to Leo's face, because after he did so, Leo's chin found it's way to his shoulder, and he tightened his grip around his waist. 

Nico could feel Leo's hand gently running up Nico's back in a soothing motion, but the words he was murmuring was far from soothing. He kept trying to make funny remarks about how funny this was, or how Nico made Leo feel like he was holding a little kid. The Italian honestly wanted to punch Leo at this point, but he just laid against him, huffing and throwing insults at him every now and then. They continued this for about what felt like hours to Nico, but was really only thirty minutes, and it only ended because Nico was getting tired and had decided he wanted sleep, and he didn't want to fall asleep against Leo.

“I'm going to bed.” He informed the other male, pulling away, but not moving from the position he was in. Leo had that mischievous smirk on his face that told Nico he was probably going to make a flirtatious remark. Nico prepared himself to smack the other in case it was too perverted (or just because he felt like it).

“Don't I get a kiss? I mean you were leaning against me like we were a couple. It'd be nice if-” Smack. “Oh come on, it wasn't even that perverted of a question. I could've asked if we could-” Smack. “Oh don't be like that, you know you want to~” A couple more smacks came to Leo's forehead before he stopped. He rubbed the area, the smile still on his face. Nico moved and got up, pulling his shirt down before he stretched, the awkward position making him uncomfortable. 

“Anyway, as I said I'm going to bed. Night, Valdez.” Nico turned on his heels before Leo could say anything else about it. 

“Night, Nico.”


	5. Two More Aboard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Author's Note]: Sorry for the late update guys! Been busy lately. Also the chapter switches between them again. It'll be going back to normal starting next chapter, anyway enjoy!
> 
> [Disclaimer]: Don't own any of the characters, they belong to Rick Riordan.

"Leo...I've been thinking, do you have to take me home?" Leo looked over at Nico who had been standing next to him while he steered the Argo II to their soon to be destination. Nico had been avoiding Leo since the incident, it was more of a time to think about what had happened, and to get a better understanding of it. Nico didn't like how close he'd gotten to Leo, and after he'd gotten everything cleared up with himself, and what had happened between them, he'd thought about if he really wanted to go home or not.

"Well, I don't have to if you don't want to, but don't you want to get things straightened out with your parents at least? Let them know you're alive?" Nico huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, he looked down at the floor, glaring at it. It'd become a habit instead of glaring at the captain himself. It wasn't like he was angry with Leo or anything, but more or less at the thought of talking to his parents again.

"I don't care if they know I am or not, really it wouldn't matter. My dad doesn't even care about me, and my step mom just finds me a disgusting being cause I was just an awful surprise." Nico scowled, feeling Leo's eyes on him, but he didn't look at the male, and just continue to glare at the floor. He really didn't want to say any more, and he really hoped Leo didn't ask, even if it was an easy subject to talk about (more so than his sister's death), it was still a sore one.

"Alright." Leo mumbled, agreeing mentally with Nico to leave it at that. He turned the helm repeatedly, trying to turn the boat around to face a different direction, making Nico wonder where Leo was planning to go next. Nico hadn't actually thought about that. He hadn't even expected the other to have plans after dropping him off. As they made their way around though, it became clear to Nico that he probably had had one.

"Where are we going?" Nico found himself asking without thinking, looking at Leo with an expression of wonder on his face. Leo looked at him, and began to laughing, causing Nico to scowl at him. Nico had probably looked like a little kid that was just about to be told a big secret. It took a couple of minutes for Leo to stop laughing, as soon as he did he wiped his eyes, and looked at Nico with a smile.

"Well, we're going to pick up my crew mates. There's six of them, and they're all in different areas. We went our separate ways about two weeks ago, and promised to meet up again soon." Leo explained, a frown coming to the males face as he looked back down at the helm of the ship. "I'm the one with the ship, so I have to pick them up...I was suppose to do so about four days ago...I sent them all messages telling them I'll be late getting some of them, but I promised to be there, and I'm going to be there." Nico couldn't tell what the other was feeling, but from his tone, it sounded like sadness. He wondered how the other's treated him, but he stopped himself from asking this time, and just kept to the subject at hand.

"Who are we picking up first then?" He questioned, feeling awkward that it took him a while to actually answer.

"Uh...a few of my long time friends, Piper McLean and Jason Grace." Leo explained not giving Nico a destination. He didn't ask either, where ever they were going, he'd ask when they got there.

"So, how far is it?" Nico questioned, his hands gently tapping the side of the ship that was close by Leo.

"Depends, it can rang from five days to a week. If we don't stop, it should only take us five days." The Latino had an odd tone to his voice, it was the same one he'd used when explaining what was going on. It sort of made Nico uneasy.

"Alright, so I'm guessing they're the closes?" Leo only nodded this time, going quiet as he continued on. Leaving Nico standing there in silence.

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Nico watched Leo as he messed with the engine, making sure that everything was working. It had started making sounds about an hour ago, and Leo took that as a sign to check up on it. Leo moved the wrench in his hand to unscrew some of the bolts that were on the side, it wouldn't do any harm to the engine, it just gave Leo better access to make sure everything was running smoothly. Nico found himself staring at Leo again, which had also turned into a bad habit since joining this ship and crew. Nico scowled at himself and just shook his head, trying to stop himself from staring at Leo for too long, he didn't want to make things awkward for them. He thought of something else, anything else, and then a question came to his head. One he was hesitant on asking.

"Valdez," Nico's voice was tiny as he called to Leo, who didn't turn around but made a small sound like he was letting him know he was listening, "what...what happened to your mom?" He wasn't looking at Leo, but he could tell the other stopped working, he'd froze where he was at the question. An urge to tell Leo he didn't have to answer came over Nico, was this how Leo had felt when Nico had taken too long to answer him that night? They stood in silence for a while, Nico had been ready to say never mind when Leo began to speak.

"Pirates raided the ship my mother and I were on. We hid down below the deck, in a small corner area hoping they wouldn't see us, praying that we'd be able to just be abandon there and we can steer the ship to the nearest town." Leo explained, Nico listening quietly. He could hear the pain and sadness in Leo's voice, he couldn't see the other's face, and Nico wasn't even sure if Leo was crying or not. Leo had stopped talking, and he had just gone back to work. Nico took that as a sigh to not talk about it any more, even if Leo just left him hanging there wondering, and leaving him questioning even more. This silence lasted until everything with the engine had been checked, and everything was being screwed back into place. Once that was done, Leo had sat back, crossing his legs as he looked down at the ground. Nico seeing Leo a lot better as he sat like that then before, but Nico looked down, sitting there quietly.

"We were dragged out of where we hid." Nico looked up, his gaze finding the side of Leo's face, he could see the blank expression on the Latino's face. He looked sad, but at the same time, it was like he was hiding the emotions. "They pushed us down onto the deck, and I saw everyone I had known scared of their minds as they stared at us. Some were dead, some were alive, the ones that lived were slaughtered in front of us. If they were female the pirates threw them onto their ship, taking them as slaves for around the their ship. The pirates were planning to do the same thing to my mom. Kill me and capture her, but my mom got in the way. She jumped in front of them just as the were about to..." Leo trailed off, Nico understanding what he was about to say. "The cut her side, and there was a really bad gash. They...we, were all shocked, and stared, I was the only one that really reacted, and all I did was sit there and cry. The pirates captured me instead, telling me I'd have to be a replacement for my mom. My mom was still alive, and she laid there watching me as I was dragged off."

Nico froze as he listened to the whole story, he wasn't even sure what to do, and listening to him explain was just horrible. Nico could guess that Leo watched the light from his mother's eyes fade as he was dragged away to become servants for bloodthirsty murderers. Nico wasn't sure how to help the other either, he didn't want to do what everyone had done to him, he didn't want to tell Leo he was sorry for his lost, or he understood, cause really he didn't. Yes, his sister had died, but he didn't witness it, not like Leo had with his mother. He wasn't taken as a replacement for the death of the family member. The only things he really did have in common with it was that they both lost someone and both were blamed for the death. Even if it was either of their fault. Nico felt awful for Leo, he didn't want to pity Leo though. That was the last thing Nico wanted to do. If Leo was like him when it came to this stuff, then he would hate anyone who just pitied him.

Nico wasn't sure when he'd moved, but soon he found himself hugging Leo, and hugging was not Nico's thing. He guessed it was the first thing that came to his mind, because that's what Leo had done for him. He only hoped it helped. He felt Leo lean into him, but still looking down at his lap. Nico heard him laugh, but it wasn't his usual cheery laugh, it was a broken down one, like he'd snapped mentally. Leo looked up, his head resting against Nico's shoulder, closing his eyes as he rested there.  
"Hey, Nico." Nico could hear Leo's voice cracking, like he was fighting to keep from breaking down in front of him. It sort of made Nico want to smack him and tell him to just let it out. He'd broke down in front of Leo and now Leo dared tried to act tough in front of him. No way, but he knelled behind Leo, who was still sitting down, his arms wrapped around Leo's waist as his forehead rested against the Latino's left shoulder.

"Yeah?" Nico mumbled.

"You wanna know what would make me feel better?" Leo had a teasing tone to his voice, which sounded forced, like he was trying to make himself feel better by what he was going to say. Nico played along, and kept quiet, waiting for him to continue. "If you'd kiss me." He had a joking tone to his words, and though not even a minute ago his voice was breaking, he sounded a little bit better. Like flirting with Nico magically made him happy. It caused Nico to roll his eyes, and though he just wanted to insult Leo, he found himself asking the question he really didn't want to ask.

"Would it really make you feel better?" Nico began thinking he would do it if it would cheer the other up. Nico sat up as he felt Leo shift, his arms still somewhat wrapped around Leo's waist. The younger male now able to see the other's expression more clearly. He had an eyebrow raised, and that stupid smirk on his face. Nico's face began to heat up, part of him was mentally regretting he'd asked.

"Would you actually do it?" Leo looked like he was trying not to laugh as he questioned Nico. The Italian puffed out his cheeks, which were a dark red, and glared at him.

"Answer the question before I change my mind about doing it." The expression on Leo's face was priceless, he was actually shocked that Nico was serious about doing it. He rubbed the back of his neck, a shy smile coming to his face as he looked somewhere else.

"Well...sort of, yeah." He answered, Nico taking his chance to unwrap his arms from Leo's waist and lean forward. Nico wasn't sure what kind of kiss he wanted, but he didn't actually kiss him. He pressed his lips to Leo's cheek, staying there for a few moments, his hands on the dark haired male's shoulder. He moved back, his hand moving to Nico's lap as he pulled away.

"Don't think this changes anything. Besides, it was only a kiss on the cheek.." Nico squeaked when Leo moved forward, feeling the other's hand come up and cup the back of his neck, pulling him forward, but stopping just as he was going to kiss him.

"That is not the kiss I wanted, this was the kiss." Leo spoke, not leaving Nico a chance to say anything before their lips met. Leo's eyes shutting just as they made contact. Nico stared in shock for a moment, sitting there and letting Leo kiss him back. His hear was pounding hard against his chest, feeling like he was going to go into a panic attack, but he allowed his mind to go blank. He leaned in kissing the other back, his hands finding their way to Leo's shoulders.

The kiss was soft, gentle, and far from what Nico expected a kiss to be like. He expected maybe it to be more rough than this, but it wasn't, and Nico found himself enjoying it. He felt Leo's hand move down and wrap around Nico's waist, pulling him closer, while Nico kept his hands where they were. Nico's mind snapped into focus though, thinking about what he was doing, and part of him screamed for him to push the other away. The mind that was more dominate at that moment didn't do so though, it just kept Nico where he was. When they broke apart was when Nico's common sense kicked in again. They stared at each other for a moment before Nico's eyes widened and he shoved the other away.

Nico backed up, quickly standing up and moving back away from Leo as far as possible. The look on Leo's face caused a ting of pain to surge through Nico's chest, but a confused expression came to Nico's. He ran off, leaving a confused Leo sitting there watching the door.

________________________________________________________________

"Idiot." Leo murmured to himself, his eyes tightly shut as he smacked his head against the helm of the ship. It had been three days after the incident, and Leo felt like there was a weight on his chest. He wouldn't stop moving, and kept walking around between the main deck and the engine room. He spent most of his time by the wheel, and Nico hadn't left his room since he ran off. He should've stopped himself, but his mind had blacked out and his body had moved on it's own. Leo felt awful for doing it, especially how Nico had been ignoring him more than usual. After it'd happened, Leo had gone to apologize, but got silence, when he tried to walk in, he got a pillow to the face and an angry Nico yelling at him to get out. Saying if it isn't about them landing then he wanted nothing to do with it.

Leo had been beating himself up about it since, and they'd only been out at sea for three days. They would have two more, four at the most together, and Leo couldn't take Nico being silent around him. He just wished Nico had smacked him and told him if he'd ever did it again he would hurt him, but no, he had to ignore him. It was worse than getting threatened to get himself gutted.

"You're a fucking idiot for doing such a fucking stupid move. You should've just kept the thought to yourself and stuck with flirting. Idiot, idiot, idiot." He mumbled to himself, he felt like punching something, or jumping off the ship. Either would be bad, but both were good options at the same time. He was leaning towards jumping off the ship more than the other.

"Stop." He heard the small voice say, Leo completely turned around staring at the person in front of him. It was Nico, and just seeing him made Leo feel like he was being punched in the gut. Nico had a blank expression, but he wasn't scowling, it was just...blank, the only expression Leo could make out was confusion. Leo wanted to run up and apologize, beg for forgiveness, but he froze, and just stared in fear. Thankfully, Nico understood what he was feeling and spoke first.

"Listen, I'm not mad, that's all I want to say. I have every right to be mad, but-"

"I know and I'm sorry," Leo blurted out, not even letting Nico finish, "I shouldn't have done that, but I wasn't thinking. Not a real surprise, I know, but I mean, my mind went blank, and then one thing lead to another. My lips were on your's and, I'm a fucking idiot for not asking first. Please don't hate me." Leo was breathing heavy after he got finished, he felt himself fighting back a sob, he didn't want someone he'd finally got to warm up to him to hate him. He didn't want Nico to just ignore him like everyone else did.

"Valdez...I don't hate you, and you should've realized you were an idiot sooner." Nico smiled at Leo who stared at him, almost teary eyed, and again, his body moved without his mind thinking. He walked up to Nico, hugging him, he felt like he was going to cry from the news.

"Thank you." He mumbled, feeling Nico tense in the embrace, but soon relaxing and returning the hug, his arms wrapping around Leo's waist. Leo played with Nico's hair as they hugged, still feeling completely awful about what happened, but unable to resist an urge that's played part of his mind since it happened. "Did you like it?"

"You're lucky I'm even hugging you, don't ruin the moment by asking stupid questions." Leo chuckled a bit as he nuzzled the other's shoulder, feeling Nico's forehead rest against his own shoulder.

"That doesn't answer my question, Nico." He mumbled, this time, Nico stepped on his foot. Leo quickly backed up, yelping at the pain, he balanced himself on his other foot rubbing the covered area. He glared at Nico who had a blush on his face.

"Again, don't ask stupid questions." Nico commented, glaring at him, before turning on the heels of his feet and walking back to his room. Leo was only happy he was talking to him again to care about his hurt foot.

________________________________________________________________

"Hey, Leo, what's up with your relationship with your crew mates? Are they your friends? Or are you just someone who tags along because no one else knows how to work the ship?" Nico knew how rude the last question sounded, but from the tone Leo always had while talking about them, it really made Nico wonder if they just found Leo annoying and only kept him along for the repairs. He hoped that wasn't the case, especially since they were only an hour away from picking up two of his crew mates. They were eating in the mess hall of the ship, which pretty much had everything. Nico was surprised how it was always magically stocked, and always had whatever he wanted to eat.

Leo played with the food on his place, staring at it as well. "We're friends, and I'm not just some repair boy who stick around. I'm apart of the crew." Leo was being defensive of them, and Nico could understand why, he'd probably hit a nerve by asking the last question. Nico only made a sound as he went back to the food on his plate, mumbling a 'yeah right' under his breath. He looked up, seeing Leo glaring at him, but the gaze quickly found it's way back to the owner's plate.

"Whatever." Leo spoke loud enough for the other to hear, his gaze finding it's way back to Nico. "They are my friends, and when they get here I'll prove it to you."

"I'm not saying they aren't, the way you talk about them and make them sound, well...it doesn't sound like they're your friends. It sounds like they use you."

"They don't!" Leo snapped glaring at Nico before realizing how harsh he sounded. He let out a sigh as he looked back down at his plate. "It's hard to explain alright? Just trust me, they're my friends." 

Nico nodded. "Alright, we'll see when we find them. We have an hour till we arrive don't we?" Leo only nodded as an answer, moving to rest his chin on his hand. 

________________________________________________________________

"Man, you two look like you've gone through hell." Leo chuckled as he saw his friends, their clothes somewhat ripped, with holes and there was dirt on their face and arms. They both boarded, obviously exhausted from all the fighting they'd probably done. Nico had gone to his room and stayed there, not wishing to talk to Piper or Jason. He didn't judge Nico for it, especially since he'd barely warmed up to Leo, now he'd have to warm up to six more people, and that didn't seem like something Nico was grateful for.

"Hey, what took you so long in picking us up? You never said it in any of the letters." Jason questioned, as he leaned against the side of the boat as Leo began to take off from the island.

"Oh, I ran into some of Kronos's goons, and was stuck in a tree. Not only that I sort of had trouble with the ship's engine." He explained.

"You sound like there more to that than just a ship that needed fixing and being stuck in a tree." Piper inquired, raising an eyebrow at her friend, who looked back and smirked at her.

"Well...I sort of..met someone." Leo pressed his index fingers and thumbs together, he felt a bit embarrassed to mention Nico to them, but he couldn't just leave them out about it. God knows Piper would go to one of the rooms and find him there. 'Oh hey, I'm just some random person who helped Leo out of a tree and sort of hitched a ride. Hope that's okay?' Leo cringed a bit at his thoughts, before realizing that Jason and Piper were staring at him. Probably waiting him to explain a little bit more. "Uh...well he's on the ship now, and sort of planning to be apart of the crew?" Jason and Piper shared a look before looking back at him.

"Do you know this person?" Jason questioned Leo who frowned.

"I've been stuck on a ship with him for over a week, if he wanted to do anything to harm me, and I'm more than positive he would've done it already. Besides, he sort of uh...helped me out of the tree I was sort of hanging from." Leo was rubbing the back of his neck as he stared at his friends. It was awkward to tell them he had literally been stuck in a tree, and now that they knew he had needed help, well it was a smack to his ego.

"Fine, but I don't think Percy's gonna be too happy that you brought someone on the ship without his permission." Jason commented, walking away with Piper following close behind.

"It's not Percy's ship." Leo mumbled, walking away from the helm making his way to the engine room.


	6. This Ought To Be Interesting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Author's Note]: I'll fix any errors in the story later, but for now, enjoy!
> 
> [Disclaimer]: Do not own characters, they belong to Rick Riordan.

Two weeks. That's how long it had been since they picked up Piper and Jason. Funny thing was, Nico had met Jason somewhere a while back, it was the reason why Jason's name sounded so familiar, but it didn't change how the male felt about him. Nico couldn't blame him though, they hadn't met on good circumstances, and Nico left it like that not thinking he'd actually meet the guy again. Luckily, he hadn't met Piper before. It would be awful if he had two people who had an extremely good reason to hate him. Piper was nice, and that was good for him, at least he could try and change what he'd done. 

Nico knew he had more people to meet though, and he had a feeling he'd know more than just Jason. That was not a good feeling either, and even though he was coming to be on good terms with Piper, he still spent most of his time either in his room or with Leo in the engine room.

Right now? That's where he was, talking to Leo about the other people he had to meet and how awkward it would probably be for both of them. When Leo had introduced him to Piper the first thing out of her mouth had been the most awkward thing Nico had ever experienced.

_Nico walked up onto the main deck, walking towards the helm of the ship, noticing Leo standing there steering the boat towards it's new destination. Nico made a sound, trying to get the other's attention without freaking him out like last time. It would've been funny to Nico if he had, and honestly part of him wanted to do so, but he respected that the other wanted somewhat of a warning before that. Besides, he didn't need the other screaming and the two new passengers running up to the rescue, and then in turn becoming more suspicious of him._

_Leo had told him about Jason's suspicions, but he also said that he wasn't sure what Piper's opinion was. Either way, he didn't need them against him more. Leo turned around, smiling at Nico, motioning him to come stand next to him._

_“Hey, where we going now?” Nico had asked, tapping his fingers against the side of the ship that was closest to Leo. The male shrugged, keeping quiet, almost like he was keeping the information from Nico. Nico raised an eyebrow at him, turning to look at him. “Find out when I get there?” He questioned, Leo looking at him this time, nodding, a smile on his face as he looked at Nico. The Italian found himself smiling at Leo as well, before he heard footsteps coming towards them._

_“Hey Leo, I wanted to-- oh, hi.” The girl was gorgeous, that was the first thing that had popped into Nico's head, but kept to himself, looking down at the ground, a light blush coming to his face. Leo smiled as he walked away from the wheel turning towards the girl more._

_“Hey, perfect timing, I was just about to introduce you two sometime today. Piper, this is Nico.” Leo pointed towards Nico, who looked up, and giving her some of his attention so he wouldn't be rude. He walked over, standing by Leo. She smiled holding out her hand to him, he took it, shaking it before they let go and took back their hands respectfully._

_“It's nice to meet you, Nico. Leo's told me a lot about you, I'm glad I get to meet you in person finally.” Nico nodded, wondering to himself what exactly Leo had said to the girl. Maybe telling her about the stuff that had happened? Hopefully leaving out the embarrassing stuff. “So...uh, I know this might seem a bit awkward to ask, especially since I don't know you exactly,” she stopped looking between him and Leo almost like she was getting permission to ask, “but are you and Leo...” She trailed off, earning confused expressions from both of the males._

_“Are we what?” Nico questioned, Leo still looking confused as he stared at his friend, it gave some reassurance to Nico that he hadn't said anything about the kiss._

_“You know, dating.” Piper looked between the males, both of them a dark red from the question._

_“No!” They both had said at the same time, looking at each other. Nico wasn't sure exactly what Leo had been thinking, but Nico had been thinking about how she would assume such a thing._

The thing that brought Nico out of his memory was Leo elbowing his side. He blinked and looked at the Latino who gave him a concerned look. It was odd how close Nico had gotten to Leo over the days, he never even thought he'd allow the guy to get close, and he just go back to his life. In a way Nico was glad that he had gotten close to someone, it gave him his reason to stay out at sea and not be so lonely.

“Don't look at me like that, I was just thinking about last week's events.” Nico replied, the concern look on Leo's face turning to confusion, but he didn't question it.

“Anyway, as I was saying, I'm pretty sure you'll get along with them. They're all nice people, but a few of them might see you as a threat. Like Annabeth or Percy-”

“Annabeth and Percy? Their last names wouldn't happen to be Chase and Jackson would it?” Leo's eyebrow was raised, and he was giving him a look that said how in the world do you know that? He nodded, answering the question. “I know them. I met them a while ago when they helped my sister and I from that Kronos guy. He uh..sent one of his lieutenants out to capture us and use us for ransom.” 

“Wait, you know who Kronos is? Then how come you pretended to act like you didn't?” Nico looked at Leo, and shrugged.

“Well, when we ran into the guys who captured you, I didn't know they were apart of Kronos's gang, and on top of that, I didn't trust you. I didn't even know if you were to be trusted.” Nico answer, Leo putting a hand to his chest like he'd just been offended. They both laughed after a minute or two of Leo looking hurt, and went back to just staring at the engine. Leo leaning back against the chair that had tons of tools and parts on top of it.

“So...did you leave them on bad terms too? Or was it just Jason?” Leo questioned, looking over at Nico with a smile on his face. Nico shook his head as he leaned back in the chair looking down at his knees.

“Percy and I have had some bad moments together, and I'm more than positive he's told Annabeth, but everything was forgiven. As far as I know everything is on good terms between us.” Nico answered as he fiddled with his fingers as some kind of distraction. He wasn't like Leo who had to keep moving (the male was actually building something as they spoke), but he would fiddle with stuff to distract himself from the emotions he faced at times.

“Hey, do Jason, Percy and Annabeth know about you being a cross dresser?” Nico glared at Leo who wasn't looking at him. Nico could see his eyes moving around the room, and his mouth sucked in like he knew he'd just asked something that offended Nico. 

“I'm not a cross dresser.” Nico argued, glaring at the other, but instead of Leo apologizing he just heard the other laugh.

“Oh, yeah, totally. You just like to wear dresses.” Nico smacked the back of Leo's head while he laughed. It becoming a typical thing for Nico to smack the male when he made comments like that. It was easier than thinking up an insult, and Leo's already made it clear he doesn't really care if he did it or not.

“No, they don't, and I'd like for it to stay like that. I swear to God, if they find out, I'll-” 

“Don't worry, my lips are sealed.” Leo interrupted, but reassured Nico he wouldn't say anything about it. Nico relaxed, trusting the other with that kind of secret. There were really only few people who actually knew, and Nico wanted to keep it to those few people.

“Did you tell Piper about...uh...you know, us kissing?” Leo shook his head, making it seem like the question was something he was expecting. “Good. I don't feel comfortable with her knowing that. Not after she assumed we were...”

“Yeah, I have no idea where she got that idea, and honestly after you walked away she talked to me about it. She said that it was because of the way we acted around each other.” Nico raised an eyebrow at Leo who shrugged after he explained. Nico let out a sigh as he looked up at the wood ceiling, wondering what Piper and Jason were even doing right now. Leo told him that they were together, and tend to spend time alone with each other. Leo said everyone on the ship besides him were in a relationship actually, it kind of made Nico feel bad for the other. Nico wasn't one of those people who wanted to be in a relationship, but if he were asked to be in one, and he liked the person back. Well, he couldn't say he wouldn't say yes.

The silence was interrupted by a loud knock on the door, causing both males to jump and look back. When the door opened, Piper walked down a few of the steps, her fancy white long sleeved button up shirt flowing down her chest, stopping at the higher part of her thigh, which match perfectly with her dark blue pants. Nico had found out a while ago from Leo that none of the girls wore them. They refused to unless they had some kind of pants material under their dresses. Her hair looking like it'd just been cut with a knife, and had a choppy effect to it, but still had a long piece of hair that was braided. 

She was out of breath, like she'd been running for a while. It took her a moment, but when she finally caught her breath, she put a wide smile on her face.

“We've reach land.” 

``````````````````````````````````````````````

The island was flourished with forest and tropical scenery. Different colors bloomed, tons of trees grew tall too, and it was a beautiful sight. Except for all the rain.

The second Nico, Jason, Leo and Piper all walked onto the ground, it had begun to pour, almost. They were all soaked by the time they'd reached the end of the forest, finding shelter in a cave by a slow moving river. They were all shivering, well, Leo was doing pretty good, but his teeth would still chatter once in a while. Nico was actually far from sure where they even were, but how excited Piper had seemed on the ship, it was obvious they were close to their friends. The only question was which ones. 

Leo and the other two were actually talking about it, saying that the land wasn't familiar, but at the same time some parts were. Like the beach, that had been very familiar to them. Nico was beginning to feel left out in the conversation, and partially regretted his decision to go with them. Especially since he would get some glances from Jason once in a while, it was obvious the guy only trusted him to a point, and Nico could understand why. He shifted where he was sitting once in a while, just wanting to get out of the cave and continue looking.

“I think we should split up. I can't remember which of the four of them were here.” Leo admitted, he sounded hurt by the confession too, which Nico was curious as to why the other was even hurt by saying that. So what he forgot somewhat? At least he knew there were people here.

“I know one of them was Annabeth, but I'm not sure which of the other three were with them.” Great. That's all Nico needed. He really wasn't sure how this would even turn out between Annabeth and him without Percy. Last he'd seen her it was about a year after his sister's death, and that was right after everything was fixed with Percy. He wondered if she would even trust him after all the years. He was eleven, maybe twelve last time he saw them, and she'd be, what, seventeen...eighteen years old? It'd been so long, and Nico didn't like that. 

“Nico,” the fifteen year old snapped out of his thought process as he looked to the group. How long had he black out for?

“Sorry, I wasn't paying attention.” He admitted, giving somewhat of a mix between an apologetic and uncomfortable look. 

“You and Pipes are going to go looking in an area not too far from here while Jason and I look around here. I was asking if you were alright with that.” Leo explained, causing Nico to hesitate, but he slowly nodded, agreeing to the arrangement. It was better than Jason and him.

````````````````````````````````````````

“Thank you for helping Leo out.” Piper and Nico had been walking for a good twenty minutes when she had suddenly spoke. It'd thrown Nico off guard, causing him to stare at her like an idiot for a few minutes before responding.

“Oh..uh..yea-wait... why are you thanking me for that?” Nico questioned her. It was a stupid question, he wasn't gonna deny that, but at the same time he was actually somewhat confused.

“You helped him from hanging from a tree, you could've walked off and ignored him.” She explained, it slowly connecting in the Italians head. He realized what she was thanking him for and why she was doing it. She was right, he could've left Leo, a majority of people would've, but at the time, Nico had had his own selfish reasons why he didn't. Of course, those reason would never arise in front of Piper or Jason. 

“It's not really a problem...I know I could've, but...I've been in a similar situation, and I really didn't see why I should've.” He lied, looking somewhere else as he continued to walk. He could feel her eyes on him, he wondered if she believed him or not. Nico wasn't an awful liar, but sometimes somone just guessed that something was amiss. He cautiously glanced at her, and his assumptions were correct, she was staring at him. When she realized he caught her gaze, she quickly looked away, but for the next five minutes would glanced at him every once in a while. It was starting to get slightly annoying.

“What is it?” She jumped at how harsh his tone was, and he hadn't meant it to come out like that, just sometimes, his anger got the best of him.

“I know you and Leo said you weren't dating, and I'm not trying to push the issue-”

“Then why are you bringing it up?” Nico interrupted, cursing himself for continuing to give her a harsh tone.

“Why aren't you two? Leo likes you, it's obvious, and you're comfortable enough to talk to him more so than Jason or I. I mean, it's one thing to be friends, but there's something different with you two, almost like there's something there, but neither want to realize or admit it.” 

“Are you sure? I mean...Leo and I are just friends, I don't have any feelings for him, and he certainly doesn't for me,” Nico was wondering if she could see through his lies, because when he tried to explain that Leo didn't like him like that (which Nico wasn't sure, the male did flirt with him after all), she gave him a look of disbelief. A look he'd probably give Leo if Leo had said something stupid and that he didn't believe.

Her expression softened, smiling at him, she stopped, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“You're right, I'm not too sure about you to be honest. You could end up secretly hating Leo, and only using him, but I do know for a fact that Leo has some interest in you. I'm not sure if it's just curiosity, or if he actually likes you, though.” Nico took in the information, why did she even care about something like that? From what the male perceived of her, and what she displayed, she didn't seem too interested in that stuff. He planned to ask, but before he could his attention was drawn somewhere else.

“Nico?” The voice was familiar, and even though he knew that either Annabeth, Percy, or two other's would be here, he knew for a fact the voice was neither Annabeth or Percy's. As he looked over, a surprised expression came over his face. What he saw was an African American girl with extremely curly chocolate brown hair. Her features familiar, but before he could even acknowledge the girl, Piper spoke up.

“Hazel!” She walked over, embracing the girl, who easily hugged the other back happily. When they pulled away, both girls' attention were to Nico. 

“How do you know him?” Piper questioned, Nico shifting a bit where he stood.

“I'm his-” 

“Sister,” Nico interrupted, a shocked expression coming to Piper's face.

“I didn't know you had a brother, Hazel.” Piper seemed cheerful by the comment, making Nico feeling even more uncomfortable.

“Half sister, actually.” He corrected, causing both girls to look at him again. Hazel looked hurt, which he could understand why. Yes, she was his half sister, but she was still his sister, and he still treated her like so when he saw her. 

“Anyway,” Piper spoke up, “Hazel, is anyone here with you? Or is it just you?” She questioned, smiling at the girl who smiled back, shaking her head.

“I'm alone as far as I know, but let me guess, Leo couldn't remember who was on which island?” Both girls shared a laugh from that, Nico only happy the subject changed from the brother, sister thing. 

“We should go back then, let Leo know it's just you, then get back to the ship.” They both nodded, following the girl soon after. Well this was going to be an interesting trip.


	7. Wonderful Sister

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Author's Note]: Hey guys, I just finished this chapter at 4am, so I'll make sure to edit it later. Excuse the grammar for now. But anyway, Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy the chapter~3
> 
> [Disclaimer]: Don't own the characters they belong to Rick Riordan.

“They're taking too long.” Leo groaned, resting up against the cave wall, his hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling of the cave. Jason and him hadn't found anything within their search,but trees (which because of Leo not paying too much attention ran into one), bushes, and flowers. Finding nothing within a good fifteen to twenty minute search, Jason and him had gone back. It was about twenty minutes later, and Leo was somewhat worried about them. He didn't get worried too often, but he always got uneasy in places that he's unfamiliar with.

“Be patient, they should be back soon.” Leo could hear how uneasy Jason was, and couldn't help but smile. He was trying to reassure himself more so than Leo.

“Noted, but you should take your own advice.” Jason looked up from what he was doing, staring at Leo who only smirked at him, his eyes closed, but his face still tilted up a bit. Leo heard Jason shuffle, probably leaned back from his weapon (which he'd been cleaning).

They were quiet for a good five minutes, Leo could hear a dripping sound from inside the cave, the male's hands were still behind his head, and eyes still closed, but he felt like he could see Jason's expressions. It was stern, and he probably had a glimpse of worry on his face, especially since Piper was with someone who he didn't trust. It didn't bother Leo in the slightest though, he understood it was going to take time for the blond to trust Nico, but eventually he would. At least, Leo hoped he would.

“What's your relationship with Nico?” Leo's eyes shot open, lifting his head as he looked over at Jason, an eyebrow raised as he gave the other a look of curiosity. He hadn't expected the other to question him so straight out, honestly he expected Jason to beat around the bush a bit before being straight forward.

“Why?” He questioned, not going to hide his mixed feelings on the question. His tone was emotionless, at least that's how it sound to Leo when he heard himself.

“I'm only asking a simple question,” Leo was more than positive he must of sounded harsh because of how the other sounded like he was trying to reassure him that it was only a question out of curiosity, “but it's because you seem a bit defensive of the male. Every time Piper, you and I talk about him, you always try and give a reason why neither one of us should be suspicious. You don't know him, and-”

“What would you do if someone helped you out? Especially when they could've left, and didn't need to lend a hand?” Jason went quiet at Leo's comment, it was true, it wasn't the only reason why Leo defended the other, but it was a good one. He just hoped the other would drop it, but his luck wasn't that good.

“I'd owe them, but I wouldn't completely defend them like you do with Nico. He hasn't done anything wrong yet, but you don't know him, I don't know him and Piper doesn't either. Just cause he helped you, doesn't mean you should defend him like you do, so why do you?” Leo understood where Jason was getting at, and honestly, Nico had given him enough reasons to trust him. The male could've easily taken off with the ship and ditched when they stopped at the town and he had to go out. He also could've killed the mechanic, but he didn't do any of that, so there was that.

“Can we just drop it? You've been talking to me about this every chance we get time alone, rather Piper is here with us or not. Why can't you just be like your girlfriend and trust him because I do?” Leo was saved from an answer from Jason when they began to hear footsteps making their way to the cave entrance. Both males grabbed their weapons just in case, holding onto them tightly. When a familiar faces came into view, Leo smiled with glee.

“Hazel! Man it's good to see you again.” Leo wanted to stand up and hug the girl, but it would've been too awkward for the both of them. There was sort of an uncomfortable situation between Hazel, her boyfriend Frank, and him. There was more than just that reason, but that was the main one.

Hazel gave him a kind smile, and Leo felt the familiar butterflies go through his stomach. Instead of continuing to look at her, his gaze found it's way to Nico, and Leo couldn't help but take in how Nico looked extremely uncomfortable. The Latino furrowed his eyebrows, that was odd, he figured Nico might be more comfortable around Hazel than any of them. She was a nice girl, and she did do a good job with making someone feel at ease when around her. It was only different for him because of certain events neither were fond of remembering.

Nico made his way to Leo, sitting next to him. Leo looked at him, worry was beginning to build up, but he looked over at the two girls, noticing the expression on Hazel's face as well. He gave a confused expression, looking over at Jason who looked back at him. It wasn't just Leo then, Jason had the same expression.

This lasted for a good minute before the Latino couldn't take it. He looked between the two girls and the male, lasting a few more seconds before he spoke.

“Okay, what happened?” Both girls looked at Leo, Nico's gaze was still on the ground, which worried Leo even more about him. He wanted answer, what could make Nico feel like this? He was going to get them, even if he had to pester the three of them about it. Lucky for him he didn't.

“Um...well, Leo...” Hazel looked to Nico, who finally looked up, a mental agreement passed between them, because after Hazel let out a relaxed sigh, obviously trying to calm her nerves, her gaze went back to Leo. “Nico and I are brother and sister.”

Leo let the information sink in, staring a blank for a few moments. He looked to Jason, and his facial expressions were honestly displaying how he felt. Shock. It was odd information, but it explained why the three of them were acting weird.

“I...” he trailed off, trying to think of a good way to put what he was feeling or what he wanted to ask correctly. There was a lot he wanted to ask too. “how?” Okay, asking like that was actually a bit cruel, but it was the first thing out of his mouth, and the first thing to pop into his head, from the looks he was getting from everyone they obviously disapproved in his words of choice.

"Leo, that's mean, apologize." Piper scowled, causing the brunette to flinch. She used _that_ tone, and _that_ tone meant that he should probably do what she said.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry for putting it like that, but I'm serious. I'm not trying to be racists or anything like that, but fuck-"

“Language” Hazel interrupted, Leo forgetting the girl wasn't fond of 'vulgar language', but honestly, Leo could careless. He still used it, just not a whole lot around her.

“Sorry, but I really do want to know.” Leo stated, this time getting elbowed in the side by Nico, causing the Latino to yelp in surprise. It didn't hurt, it honestly would've made him start laughing if it were a different situation. He shot a glare at Nico who was only glaring back at him. “Fine, guess I don't want to know.” Leo mumbled, slightly aggravated.

```````````````````````````````

“We're half siblings.” Leo opened his eyes, turning his head to look at Nico, who had been completely quiet since they got back on the ship and even before. He hadn't spoken when he got back, not till now anyway. They sat in the engine room like they typically did when they wanted to be alone together.

It was quiet for a little bit after the comment, and Leo wanted to continue the conversation, and maybe ask a few questions, but he waited for the other. He didn't want to be glared at for something like this again. Nico obviously just wanted to inform Leo of that, cause he didn't speak after that. He just went quiet again, resting his chin against his knees that were to his chest.

“You have a wonderful sister, Nico.” Leo murmured, looking back at the engine as he sat there. From the corner of his eye he saw a small glimpse of a smile pass over Nico's expressions.

“I know.”


	8. Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aurthor's Notes: Oh my gods, I'm so so so sorry this is late. I wanted to check for my mistakes before publishing it. Forgive me.

“Fuck.” Nico hissed as Hazel wiped the wound, half of the rag in her hand a deep crimson red. In her other hand held some kind of healing ointment, Nico hadn't really been paying attention to it honestly. Hazel looked up at him for a moment, the stern motherly look on her face.

“Language.” She dunk the rag in the water that was an orange peach color, causing the Italian to cringe at it. He wasn't really sure how much he'd been bleeding, but he could see how tense Hazel was, and the fact that it was slowly starting to stop was a good sign. He saw Hazel physically relax at that, she was probably more worried than he was.

“Sorry.” Nico apologized, knowing full well how much his sister hated people cursing, of course (unbeknownst to her), everyone did it when she wasn't around. Nico had even seen the repair boy of the ship act like a complete angel _and_ never curse around her (if he could help it).

His mind began to wonder at the thought of what it was like before and how everyone found out that the girl was far from happy when it came to the fowl language. In his mind, he pictured a very angry Hazel, who had to explain to everyone how she was traditional with that kind of stuff. She wasn't down right religious, but even he had known that she believed cursing was wrong. She didn't judge anyone for doing it though, that was the best thing about Hazel. She honestly tried not to judge someone for their actions, or in this case, language. 

She never did with him either when she found out about him..wearing dresses. He wanted to hide as the memory of how she found out came flooding into his mind, but she brought him out of his thoughts before he could think too much on it.

“Nico,” Hazel's voice sounded cautious as she spoke his name, like her just saying it would cause him to snap at her. Which had become impossible for him to do. Nico had never actually snapped at the African American girl though. They got along well, and not only that, she was his sister. He felt like he was sort of given a second chance at having a sibling and he didn't want to ruin it.

“What's wrong?” Nico heard the tone of his voice and gave the girl an apologetic look. It wasn't like he meant it to come out harsh, and really it wasn't towards her, it was mostly towards whatever had upset her. He was _totally_ grateful for having a protective older gene in him that caused him to want to hurt anyone or anything that hurt his sister. The gene wasn't unfamiliar to him either.

“Nothing's wrong, I was just curious about something.” The wound had finally stopped bleeding, and she was now playing with the somewhat red rag, looking somewhere else. He hinted a small blush on her face that raise further suspicion as he looked at her. Nico's eyebrow raised at her whole posture. What did she want to talk about? He figured if he kept quiet she might just continue instead of him needing to ask. 

“Are you and Leo...” She trailed off, probably trying to figure out how to word it. Nico's heart dropped at that, what was it with people asking about him and Leo? It's been a question that's been asked since they left the island (mostly by Piper). She asked every two days, and within the week, it really did start to annoy him to hear the question. Every time he asked her why she wanted to know something like that too, she'd say that their relationship has...matured more. He wasn't too sure what she had meant by it, but he was just pray it didn't mean that they looked like they were together. “What is your relationship with him?” 

It was a simple enough question, and was definitely worded differently. Typically he would hear “Are you two together?” and after a while, that question, got on his nerves. Lately though, he was just happy it was someone who he could talk to instead of Jason.

Nico thought about the question, finding it at least somewhat respectful to give an honest answer. She didn't _exactly_ ask the question he was dreading, so he owed her that in return, at least in his mind he did. 

What was his relationship with Leo? They've been around each other for a little over a month, and within that time, Nico's feelings towards the male had changed. First he thought that Leo wasn't to be trusted and not to get close to him, then it went to him finding the male an acquaintance at one point, then it went to him considering them friends. That's how he had left it too, it was the answer he'd given Piper when she asked the same thing, but lately, he'd been questioning that. He's been around Leo more than he had with Piper or Jason (not as much as Hazel, but that's understandable), and really, even though Hazel was here he spent most of his time with Leo. 

_We're just friends. You can't like him._ Nico scowled himself, not wanting to let himself think that he was falling for the mechanic, and somewhat stopping himself from it. It's not the first time he's fallen for someone, that hadn't gone well, and he doesn't want the same thing happening with Leo. Nico felt like it would ruin everything if he did, even if he'd be able to hide it.

“We're friends.” He answered, a small ting in his chest told him otherwise, but he was ignoring it. A questioned popped up in his head that he figured he should ask Leo when he got the chance.

Nico hadn't realized he wasn't looking at Hazel when he answered, and when he finally did, looking up at her, her expression had doubt in it. She wrapped his hand up, smiling at him before kissing his cheek and walking away. Nico watched her for a moment, looking down at the gaze that covered his hand. He let out a frustrated sigh, running a hand through his hair, letting it come down the back and rest on the back of his neck. This was going to be a long trip, he could feel it.

``````````````````````````  
“Hey sexy, what's up?” Nico froze in his spot, his hand was on the stair railing, and he was half way down the rickety steps. The male hadn't expected the other to say that. Leo had stopped flirting with him like that ever since they kissed, Nico probably figured Leo had been uncomfortable with it at the time, and was either getting over it, or testing the water to see if he could start it up again.

Nico was happy the door was closed, it would've been too embarrassing to explain to one of the others, if one of them was at the door, why Leo had called him that, especially when he didn't even know himself. When he made it down the steps he smack the back of Leo's head,like he always this, but this time it was gentle. As he took his seat next to the repair boy he could see Leo looking a bit concerned. It was quickly replaced by a smirk, as he leaned back in the chair. 

“That was a lot gentler than you usually do..er..did? What, you're not growing a soft spot for me, are you?” Leo's tone was flirtatious, and Nico's gaze was on Leo as he glared at him for a minute, before they found it's way to his hand. He was gently rubbing the gauze as he sat there. 

“You okay?” Nico furrowed his eyebrows, looking up at the Latino, who was now staring at him with a concerned expression. Leo had been doing that a lot lately with Nico too. Every time Nico acted out of character, even in the slightest, Leo questioned him. That had been getting quite annoying as well, especially when nothing was wrong, but at least he had an excuse this time.

“What are we to each other?” Nico felt his face warm up as the other's expressions shifted like a chameleon. They went from worried, to confused, back to worry, and at one point actually held amusement in the question. Till he probably realized how serious Nico was.

“Well...I sort of thought we were...well...friends...” Leo trailed off, obviously embarrassed by the statement he made, like considering them friends was taboo.

“Why?” There was fear in Leo's tone, and he started to fiddle with the little tool he had in his hands like he typically did when his anxiety was raising. It was something that anyone would notice if you hung around the male long enough.

“Hazel asked earlier..and I said the same thing. I was curious on what you thought.” Nico went back to fiddling with his fingers, looking away from Leo and keeping to himself as much as possible. At least he hadn't lied to Leo, he just kept some information to himself. He heard Leo shift in the chair, the Latino was probably feeling just as awkward as he was.

“Piper asked the same thing this morning. I told her the same thing, we were just friends, but funny thing was I was going to ask you the same thing.” Nico quickly looked over towards Leo, who's gaze was on the tool in his had. Nico moved his legs forward, resting them against his chest as he hugged them. He'd been doing it a lot lately, and he wasn't exactly sure why. Defense instinct? It was probably just becoming a habit of his.

“Why do you flirt with me?” It threw both of them off, because they both looked at each other in that moment. Nico hadn't even thought it through about asking, and Leo looked at Nico like the question was unexpected and crazy. 

“You don't have to answer if you don't want to.” _I certainly didn't mean to ask the question anyway._ He thought to himself.

“No, it's fine. I don't mind answering.” Leo sounded a bit uncomfortable even though he agreed. Nico wanted to ask if the other was sure or not, but the Latino beat him to it. 

“I'm not sure, I guess cause I was before and I told you I wouldn't stop? Even if you're, well, a guy.” Nico gave him a suspicious look, it was odd to hear someone give that kind of a reason why someone would flirt with another person. It wasn't like Nico didn't think that wasn't his actual answer, just it wasn't one he ever heard. 

“I also think it's fun.” Leo mumbled, Nico raised an eyebrow at Leo. Had he heard the other right Or was he just imagining it?

“What?”

“I said I also think it's fun,” The Latino spoke louder, “and I like how I can get you to turn red from it.” Nico wanted to stop himself from blushing at that statement, but by the look on Leo's face when he looked at him, Nico guessed he failed. 

Nico's gaze found it's way to a bucket, he could feel himself getting somewhat annoyed at the other's answer. He heard Leo laugh at that, Nico didn't hesitate to punch the Latino's arm after that.

“Ow..” Leo continued to laugh for a few more minutes. As soon as he was done, the male relaxed, taking in a deep breath. They both looked at each other, Nico's face still a bright pink, but he didn't care at that moment. Leo frowned, looking down at his lap, this time Nico had to wonder if the other was alright or not.

“Something on your mind?” Nico wasn't one for personal space, so as he asked, he kept his distance, but made sure to at least look sincere for the other. It was genuine too.

“Yeah...but...ya know what, never mind.” Leo looked up at Nico, a smile on his face, but his eyes always showed whatever he felt more than his actual expression. Nico left it at that, he didn't want to push the issue. 

``````````````````````````  
The boat floated effortlessly on the sea, the rocking was making him sleepy. How long had it been since he got a full nights rest? About three days give or take, and it was physically obvious by the dark bags under his eyes. He'd been getting nightmares, and really, at that moment, he didn't want to deal with anyone. Especially Hazel and Leo. 

Two more days. That was when they were going to pick up someone else, someone who was apparently Hazel's boyfriend. He didn't know she had one, and honestly, it was her choice. The male was a bit suspicious of the other, of course, big brother's should be, but he felt it was her choice. As long as she was happy, he shouldn't care, right?

A knock came to the door, and Nico really didn't want to answer it. He just wanted to lay there and ignore the world for a while. He figured the only one's who would really bother him were either Hazel, or Leo. Once in a while Piper would come get him, but it was mostly those two. His thoughts on that it was actually them were really based around that they had both been extremely worried. Hadn't helped that he fainted in the middle of the deck yesterday in front of everyone as they were discussing where they would go after everyone was picked up.

“Go away.” He found himself saying, wincing as he did. That was wrong of him to say, and on top of it he sounded harsh. He blamed it on the lack of sleep. It was beginning to make him frustrated with everyone. 

As the doors open, Nico waited patiently for the person to come up to him. Not telling them to scram just yet. Nico's eyes were closed, they had been after he got his fair share of what the ceiling looked like. He found it amazing he wasn't asleep yet because of it. His hands were over his chest, letting his breathing calm down as he heard whoever came in step closer.

“If you're asleep then I'll leave, but I'm guessing you're not.” Nico opened his eyes at the voice, seeing Leo standing there above him, his hands in his pocket. He didn't look too worried, but he figured the other wanted him to rest. 

“Also, I wasn't going to go away just because you're cranky.” He smiled, chuckling a bit. Nico sat up, letting out a sigh as he rubbed the back of his head. 

“Don't tell me we got there early.” Leo shook his head, sitting next to the male, which made him shuffle away from Leo.

“Nah, but...something's been nagging at me from the other day.” Nico stared at the other, his anxiety levels raising. His curiosity about what the other had wanted to say had honestly gotten to the male for a while. He had wanted to ask the brunet what was up, but had been a bit too nervous to do so and had decided against it.

His heart pounded hard against his chest as he waited for the other to continue. He was shaking, and he wondered if the other could notice it. The Latino's gaze was avoiding his own, he looked nervous. Nico was the same too, he was somewhat scared, but at the same time everything else was nothing compared to him wanting to know. “..What is it?” 

“I'm not sure if I should say this or not, but I think I like you more than just a friend, Nico.”


End file.
